A hodgepodge of links, some more humorous than others.
Enjoy!
Total Fail: McCain's Own Aides Can't Defend Palin: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-9VW4ewI1M (PWNED!!!!! Here's the references: Article I, Sec. 3 & Article II.)
I thought we threw out that SOFA! Reuters: Thousands march in Baghdad against U.S. pact: http://www.reuters.com/article/homepageCrisis/idUSLI497299._CH_.2400 (Sorry, I can't seem to insert the link. Just copy and paste onto your address bar, or Google the bold text.)
Is history repeating itself? From PR.com: (Read in the Extened Post, the excerpt about the Gold standard).
Even the conservative "Washington Times" is reporting on voter intimidation at the polls in swing states:
http://washingtontimes.com/weblogs/bellantoni/2008/Oct/20/mccain-supporters-call-early-voters-ch/An organizer at the rally rattled off the addresses of early vote sites nearby that would be open after the event.Photographer Joe Eddins and I headed over to the closest one and found a steady line of voters hoping to cast ballots early. Most seemed to be Obama supporters and several had come from the rally. Nearly all the voters were black.Also at the polling site was a group of loud and angry protesters who shouted and mocked the voters as they walked in. Nearly all were white.As you can see from these videos, no one held anything back. People were shouting about Obama's acknowledged cocaine use as a young man, abortion and one man used the word "terrorist." They also were complaining that Sundays are for church, not voting....At the voting site, I asked a local sheriff monitoring the scene if the protesters were allowed. "They're fine," he said. I asked if he'd ever seen anything like that and he said he'd never seen Sunday voting.One group was handing out fliers "comparing" McCain and Obama on social issues such as abortion and gay marriage. Among those listed on the sheet were:Opposes gay pride? McCain YES Obama NOSupports human cloning? McCain NO Obama YESThe flier is a lie, Obama does not support cloning. Also, I know the McCain camp would dispute him "opposing gay pride."
http://washingtontimes.com/weblogs/bellantoni/2008/Oct/20/mccain-supporters-call-early-voters-ch/
An organizer at the rally rattled off the addresses of early vote sites nearby that would be open after the event.
Photographer Joe Eddins and I headed over to the closest one and found a steady line of voters hoping to cast ballots early. Most seemed to be Obama supporters and several had come from the rally. Nearly all the voters were black.
Also at the polling site was a group of loud and angry protesters who shouted and mocked the voters as they walked in. Nearly all were white.
As you can see from these videos, no one held anything back. People were shouting about Obama's acknowledged cocaine use as a young man, abortion and one man used the word "terrorist." They also were complaining that Sundays are for church, not voting.
...
At the voting site, I asked a local sheriff monitoring the scene if the protesters were allowed. "They're fine," he said. I asked if he'd ever seen anything like that and he said he'd never seen Sunday voting.
One group was handing out fliers "comparing" McCain and Obama on social issues such as abortion and gay marriage. Among those listed on the sheet were:
Opposes gay pride? McCain YES Obama NO
Supports human cloning? McCain NO Obama YES
The flier is a lie, Obama does not support cloning. Also, I know the McCain camp would dispute him "opposing gay pride."
And in the New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/21/opinion/21herbert.html?_r=5&ref=opinion&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=loginThe Real Scandal By BOB HERBERTIt never ends. The Republican Party never gets tired of spraying its poison across the American political landscape.So there was a Republican congresswoman from Minnesota, Michele Bachmann, telling Chris Matthews on MSNBC that the press should start investigating members of the House and Senate to determine which ones are “pro-America or anti-America.” Can a rancid Congressional committee be far behind? Leave it to a right-wing Republican to long for those sunny, bygone days of political witch-hunting.Ms. Bachmann’s demented desire (“I would love to see an exposé like that”) is of a piece with the G.O.P.’s unrelenting effort to demonize its opponents, to characterize them as beyond the pale, different from ordinary patriotic Americans — and not just different, but dangerous, and even evil.But the party is not content to stop there. Even better than demonizing opponents is the more powerful and direct act of taking the vote away from their opponents’ supporters. The Republican Party has made strenuous efforts in recent years to prevent Democrats from voting, and to prevent their votes from being properly counted once they’ve been cast.Which brings me to the phony Acorn scandal.John McCain, who placed his principles in a blind trust once the presidential race heated up, warned the country during the presidential debate last week that Acorn, which has been registering people to vote by the hundreds of thousands, was “on the verge of maybe perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history.”It turns out that a tiny percentage of these new registrations are bogus, with some of them carrying ludicrous names like Mickey Mouse. Republicans have tried to turn this into a mighty oak of a scandal, with Mr. McCain thundering at the debate that it “may be destroying the fabric of democracy.”Please. The Times put the matter in perspective when it said in an editorial that Acorn needs to be more careful with some aspects of its voter-registration process. It needs to do a better job selecting canvassers, among other things.“But,” the editorial added, “for all of the McCain campaign’s manufactured fury about vote theft (and similar claims from the Republican Party over the years) there is virtually no evidence — anywhere in the country, going back many elections — of people showing up at the polls and voting when they are not entitled to.”Two important points need to be made here. First, the reckless attempt by Senator McCain, Sarah Palin and others to fan this into a major scandal has made Acorn the target of vandals and a wave of hate calls and e-mail. Acorn staff members have been threatened and sickening, murderous comments have been made about supporters of Barack Obama. (Senator Obama had nothing to do with Acorn’s voter-registration drives.)Second, when it comes to voting, the real threat to democracy is the nonstop campaign by the G.O.P. and its supporters to disenfranchise American citizens who have every right to cast a ballot. We saw this in 2000. We saw it in 2004. And we’re seeing it again now. In Montana, the Republican Party challenged the registrations of thousands of legitimate voters based on change-of-address information available from the Post Office. These specious challenges were made — surprise, surprise — in Democratic districts. Answering the challenges would have been a wholly unnecessary hardship for the voters, many of whom were students or members of the armed forces.In the face of widespread public criticism (even the Republican lieutenant governor weighed in), the party backed off.That sort of thing is widespread. In one politically crucial state after another — in Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, you name it — the G.O.P. has unleashed foot soldiers whose insidious mission is to make the voting process as difficult as possible — or, better yet, impossible — for citizens who are believed to favor Democrats.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/21/opinion/21herbert.html?_r=5&ref=opinion&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=login
It never ends. The Republican Party never gets tired of spraying its poison across the American political landscape.
So there was a Republican congresswoman from Minnesota, Michele Bachmann, telling Chris Matthews on MSNBC that the press should start investigating members of the House and Senate to determine which ones are “pro-America or anti-America.”
Can a rancid Congressional committee be far behind? Leave it to a right-wing Republican to long for those sunny, bygone days of political witch-hunting.
Ms. Bachmann’s demented desire (“I would love to see an exposé like that”) is of a piece with the G.O.P.’s unrelenting effort to demonize its opponents, to characterize them as beyond the pale, different from ordinary patriotic Americans — and not just different, but dangerous, and even evil.
But the party is not content to stop there. Even better than demonizing opponents is the more powerful and direct act of taking the vote away from their opponents’ supporters. The Republican Party has made strenuous efforts in recent years to prevent Democrats from voting, and to prevent their votes from being properly counted once they’ve been cast.
Which brings me to the phony Acorn scandal.
John McCain, who placed his principles in a blind trust once the presidential race heated up, warned the country during the presidential debate last week that Acorn, which has been registering people to vote by the hundreds of thousands, was “on the verge of maybe perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history.”
It turns out that a tiny percentage of these new registrations are bogus, with some of them carrying ludicrous names like Mickey Mouse. Republicans have tried to turn this into a mighty oak of a scandal, with Mr. McCain thundering at the debate that it “may be destroying the fabric of democracy.”
Please. The Times put the matter in perspective when it said in an editorial that Acorn needs to be more careful with some aspects of its voter-registration process. It needs to do a better job selecting canvassers, among other things.
“But,” the editorial added, “for all of the McCain campaign’s manufactured fury about vote theft (and similar claims from the Republican Party over the years) there is virtually no evidence — anywhere in the country, going back many elections — of people showing up at the polls and voting when they are not entitled to.”
Two important points need to be made here. First, the reckless attempt by Senator McCain, Sarah Palin and others to fan this into a major scandal has made Acorn the target of vandals and a wave of hate calls and e-mail. Acorn staff members have been threatened and sickening, murderous comments have been made about supporters of Barack Obama. (Senator Obama had nothing to do with Acorn’s voter-registration drives.)
Second, when it comes to voting, the real threat to democracy is the nonstop campaign by the G.O.P. and its supporters to disenfranchise American citizens who have every right to cast a ballot. We saw this in 2000. We saw it in 2004. And we’re seeing it again now.
In Montana, the Republican Party challenged the registrations of thousands of legitimate voters based on change-of-address information available from the Post Office. These specious challenges were made — surprise, surprise — in Democratic districts. Answering the challenges would have been a wholly unnecessary hardship for the voters, many of whom were students or members of the armed forces.
In the face of widespread public criticism (even the Republican lieutenant governor weighed in), the party backed off.
That sort of thing is widespread. In one politically crucial state after another — in Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, you name it — the G.O.P. has unleashed foot soldiers whose insidious mission is to make the voting process as difficult as possible — or, better yet, impossible — for citizens who are believed to favor Democrats.
We can win, but only by getting out the vote and vigilantly montitoring the polling places
If you appreciaterd this message, then please have a look at the rest of my blog, http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/blog/henrymu and support and contribute to the campaign (it’s not over until the polls close): http://tinyurl.com/henrym4obamafundraising
Henry M
Chris:Talk about old school spin, what the heck were you thinking dicing up Obama's "I agree..." clips to try and turn this into some point of weakness, when, even as the CBS sample poll figured out, it was a point of strength. Your hacks edited out the BUTs.... , and you missed the bigger point.Do we want another George W. Bush who is digging his heels in and can see no common ground with people across the aisle? NO. True statesmanship, versus third-rate debate gamesmanship, is shown when you can...
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/bringback?e
Did anyone witness the exchange between Chris Matthews and Tom Brokaw late in the coverage last night? The two gave us their paint by numbers breakdown of Pennsylvania geopolitics. Rife with stereotypes and half-truths. Smug in their delivery. If you wonder why new media is slowly making major media irrelevant, in part it's because of this kind of arrogance. Wake up and smell the blogosphere boys. The wheels on the big fat media bus still go round and round, but for how much longer?
With regard to the interview on MSNBC last night with Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones from Ohio and Texas State Sen. Kirk Watson, unfortunately botched by Chris Matthews, who let Tubbs Jones bluster, bully and badger him into asking a straight out question about Obama’s “accomplishments” that he did not ask of Tubbs Jones about Clinton, I would like to provide to Obama supporters the following information, which Sen. Watson did not have on hand, obviously, in last night’s interview.
The following information was not gathered by me, but was posted by “Define is?” on a site on Feb. 7. (I would be grateful if Define Is? gave me the site co-ordinates.) It makes very interesting reading:
“Clinton v. Obama on Legislative Experience: Senator Clinton, who has served only one full term (6yrs.), and another year campaigning, has managed to author and pass into law, (20) twenty pieces of legislation in her first six years. These bills can be found on the website of the Library of Congress (www.thomas.loc.gov), but to save you trouble, I'll post them here for you: 1. Establish the Kate Mullany National Historic Site. 2. Support the goals and ideals of Better Hearing and Speech Month. 3. Recognize the Ellis Island Medal of Honor. 4. Name courthouse after Thurgood Marshall. 5. Name courthouse after James L. Watson. 6. Name post office after Jonn A. O'Shea. 7. Designate Aug. 7, 2003, as National Purple Heart Recognition Day. 8. Support the goals and ideals of National Purple Heart Recognition Day. 9. Honor the life and legacy of Alexander Hamilton on the bicentennial of his death. 10. Congratulate the Syracuse Univ. Orange Men's Lacrosse Team on winning the championship. 11. Congratulate the Le Moyne College Dolphins Men's Lacrosse Team on winning the championship. 12. Establish the 225th Anniversary of the American Revolution Commemorative Program. 13. Name post office after Sergeant Riayan A. Tejeda. 14. Honor Shirley Chisholm for her service to the nation and express condolences on her death. 15. Honor John J. Downing, Brian Fahey, and Harry Ford, firefighters who lost their lives on duty. Only five of Clinton's bills are, more substantive. 16. Extend period of unemployment assistance to victims of 9/11. 17. Pay for city projects in response to 9/11 18. Assist landmine victims in other countries. 19. Assist family caregivers in accessing affordable respite care. 20. Designate part of the National Forest System in Puerto Rico as protected in the wilderness preservation system. There you have it, the fact's straight from the Senate Record.
Now, I would post those of Obama's, but the list is too substantive, so I'll mainly categorize. During the first (8) eight months [years? In the Illinois State Senate?] of his elected service he sponsored over 820 bills. He introduced 233 regarding healthcare reform, 125 on poverty and public assistance, 112 crime fighting bills, 97 economic bills, 60 human rights and anti-discrimination bills, 21 ethics reform bills, 15 gun control, 6 veterans affairs and many others. His first year in the U.S. Senate, he authored 152 bills and co-sponsored another 427. These included **the Coburn-Obama Government Transparency Act of 2006 (became law), **The Lugar-Obama Nuclear Non-proliferation and Conventional Weapons Threat Reduction Act, (became law), **The Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act, passed the Senate, **The 2007 Government Ethics Bill, (became law), **The Protection Against Excessive Executive Compensation Bill, (In committee), and many more. In all since he entered the U.S. Senate, Senator Obama has written 890 bills and co-sponsored another 1096. An impressive record, for someone who supposedly has no legislative record. . . . Posted By: Define Is? | February 07, 2008 at 03:54 PM”
To steal a rhetorical technique from Shakespeare, by way of Deval Patrick and Barack Obama, the Coburn-Obama Government Transparency Act of 2006. Not a legislative accomplishment? The Lugar-Obama Nuclear Non-proliferation and Conventional Weapons Threat Reduction Act. Not a legislative accomplishment? The 2007 Government Ethics Bill. Not a legislative accomplishment?
Barack Obama actually has a longer legislative track record (eight years in the Illinois State Senate, and three years in the US Senate) than Hillary Clinton, whose only experience in elected office has been her seven years as a U.S. Senator. First Lady is not an elected office, and carries no responsibility within the US federal constitutional system. One could, I suppose, bring up Sen. Clinton’s attempt to pass a major healthcare reform in the first years of her husband’s presidency, but the disastrous outcome of that endeavour might make that ill-advised, and can only dubiously called an accomplishment. Clinton also voted for authorization of force in Iraq, another accomplishment that Obama cannot list, but does she want to remind us of that either? Overall, the question of accomplishment, especially legislative accomplishment, is yet another one where, on further investigation, Obama supporters, properly informed, can win, and win handily.
Link
(Copy and paste in your bulletins and blogs on myspace and facebook. Encourage ypour friends to do the same)
You may recognize the line from Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid. Yesterday, on Hardball, Chris Matthews pulled it from his memory bank as a way to describe what Hillary's campaign must be saying about Team Obama. Chris was interviewing Brian Williams, who also invoked his own, albeit slightly altered quote in describing the Hillary campaign, "Something happened on the way to the nomination."
Hillary's hearing footsteps, and they're growing louder and stronger. Those footsteps aren't just Obama's, they're ours. Let's continue to build what may become the most formidible grassroots coalition in our nation's history.
